Psychoanalytical, Adlerian, and Existential Therapies

Psychoanalytical Therapy

Whenever I think of psychoanalytical therapy, I always think of an individual lying on the couch, with the therapist not in view of them, because psychoanalytical therapists do not tend to form relationships with their clients on a personal level. It is this therapist’s job to analyze what the client is saying. Often times, the psychoanalytical therapist will let the client continue to talk without saying a word to get to know more of how the client acts. It often seems as though the therapist dehumanizes the client and sees him or her as more of an experiment than a person.

The goal of this type of therapy is to make the unconscious conscious, to assist clients in reliving earlier experiences, and to help them work through repressed conflicts.

Adlerian Therapy

Adlerian therapists tend to be a lot more relational than psychoanalytical therapists, and will actually talk with their clients rather than make their clients do all of the talking. They are very interested in the individual’s lifestyle. Adlerian therapy focuses on early memories, birth order, and inferiority/superiority.

Adlerian therapists often act like guides for the clients. It is their job to help the client determine their goals, and give them “homework” to begin working on that goal.

Existential Therapy

Existential therapy is very focused on self-awareness, freedom of choice to decide one's fate, responsibility, anxiety, the search for meaning, being alone and being in relation with others, and facing the reality of death.

The existential therapist’s job is to help the client identify their values and where they came from, and focus on the present. They help the client figure out their self worth. The main goal is to help people see that they are free and become aware of their possibilities.

Out of all 3 of these, I find that Adlerian therapy still interests me the most. However, I feel as though I would most benefit from existential therapy as I sometimes forget my own self worth!